The McHenry City Council unanimously amended its motorized recreational device ordinance to update restrictions for electric off-road motorcycles and and e-scooters, and to close a loophole for one-wheeled models.

The owner of Windy City Wheelers, a McHenry Riverwalk Shoppe that sells e-bikes, said he was OK with the city’s ordinance changes.

“The responsibility lies in the people who are purchasing these,” to use them safely, Samcy Mathew said.

Mathew, who did not attend the council meeting Monday, said he specifies to customers that e-bikes are designed to be off-road.

“They can’t take it out on [Routes] 31 or 120 and blend in with traffic,” he said.

Most of the devices Windy City Wheelers sell come with pedals, so they’re defined as e-bikes. Those, according to state rules, cannot be driven on sidewalks and they, along with manual bicycles, are not allowed on the Riverwalk, McHenry Chief of Police John Birk said.

All of the new electric-operated vehicles have been reported in McHenry and have “posed safety risks in the community,” Birk said.

Still, Birk wrote in his memo to the Council that police “receive a minimal number of complaints as most operators of e-bikes follow the rules/laws of Illinois.”

“All e-bikes are subject to the same rules of the rules and regulations of a traditional bike,” Birk said, adding that the existing state law is sufficient for these devices.

The next category, electric off-road motorcycles, “look like a dirt bike and are not designed to be drive on a roadway,” Birk said. They do not have VIN numbers and cannot be registered with license plates. Like gas-powered dirt bikes, they are not allowed on McHenry roadways, sidewalks or in parks.

When police officers do interact with those driving the electric off-road motorcycles, they are often under the age of 16 and do not have driver’s licenses, Birk said.

“The age is the factor” he said, as those under 16 have not yet learned the rules of the road.

Mathew also sells a few of these devices, most easily recognized as they do not have pedals. They are for off-road driving in “rural areas or dirt bike tracks,” he said, noting that parents will buy them for their 14-year-old children but without oversight.

“They are really fast, really quiet machines for their kids to ride in traffic. That is not smart,” Mathew said. He’s also heard of kids modifying the electric dirt bikes by cutting the governor wires to allow them to go faster, and popping wheelies in traffic.

“If my kid did that, I would throw it in the river and they’d never have one again,” Mathew said.

The final category includes low-speed electric scooters that have a top speed of 10 mph and non-low-speed scooters that can reach speeds above 10 mph.

McHenry’s low-speed scooters law matches the state regulations, which limits drivers to age 18 or older and requires brakes and lamps for nighttime use.

The faster scooters will require a driver’s license to operate and helmets for drivers under age 18, and such scooters are also prohibited from sidewalks.

During later discussion, Alderwoman Sue Miller, 7th Ward, asked if single-wheeled electric skateboard-style devices, as she has seen in her neighborhood, were also regulated in McHenry ordinances.

“They are kind of in the hoverboard family,” Birk said.

That may have been a loophole in the ordinance, which refers to electric or gas-powered personal motorized devices with two or more wheels. The ordinance was updated to include single-wheeled devices as well.

Anyone ticketed for illegal use of the devices would receive an ordinance violation, and a child’s ability to get a driver’s license later would not be affected by getting ticketed, Birk said.

Even with new regulations from the city, parents and adults are responsible for how they use these electric and motorized devices, Mathew added.

“The responsibility falls on the parent, or whoever bought it or paid for it,” he said, adding that he has counseled parents away from devices that are not a good fit for younger children.

“If you buy it and they get in trouble, you are liable for the actions of your kid,” Mathew said.